China Harbour Engineering Co. has reached an agreement to construct a 68-kilometer (42-mile) railway in Lagos, Nigeria’s bustling commercial center known for its heavy traffic congestion.
The project aims to alleviate the gridlock that often leaves commuters stuck for extended periods.
The Lagos state government announced on Thursday that Nigeria’s Ministry of Finance Inc., in collaboration with the Chinese firm, will secure funding for the “design, finance, operation, and maintenance” of the railway.
The announcement was made through an email statement.
The memorandum of understanding for the Green Line Rail Project was signed during the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Beijing this week.
At the summit, Chinese President Xi Jinping introduced various economic incentives for Africa, including $50 billion in financial aid and $10 billion in investments from Chinese companies.
This railway will connect Marina, located in Lagos’s central business district, to the Lekki Free Zone on the city’s outskirts, home to the Lagos Deep Sea Port and the Dangote Refinery, which processes 650,000 barrels of oil per day.
“This rail line is projected to carry over 500,000 passengers daily at launch, rising to over a million as demand grows,” according to the statement.
When completed, the new route will add to an existing so-called Blue Line that was commissioned in August 2023 and a Red Line that began operating this year.
Lagos, about the size of the US state of Rhode Island, is home to more than 20 million people and has one of the fastest-growing populations in Africa.
The state’s poor road and transport infrastructure means residents are forced to sit in traffic for hours, with commuters estimated to spend a total of 14.1 million hours a day in traffic every year, according to a 2021 report by Lagos-based Danne Institute for Research.